Drug stores. In 1986, American Stores relocated Buttrey's headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah, home of American Stores' Skaggs-Alpha Beta division. In July 1987, Buttrey closed seven stores in Idaho, which included all locations in Boise and Pocatello. Three of the five Boise stores were sold to Albertsons. In September 1987, Skaggs Alpha-Beta was reorganized into Alpha-Beta Stores, Inc., which relocated Buttrey's headquarters back to Great Falls in a newly formed division of Alpha-Beta. American Stores put Buttrey up for sale in May 1990 and, during August, sold it to an investment group led by Buttrey's management and Freeman Spogli & Co. American Stores received US$184 million from proceeds of the sale and other agreements. At the time of the sale, Buttrey had operated 44 stores and employed 4,200 workers in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. Launch of Buttrey Big Fresh and sale to Albertsons In November 1990, the closures of its last two stores in Idaho, located in Idaho Falls and Twin Falls, were announced. In 1992, Buttrey Food & Drug went public in an effort to reduce debt. In 1994, Buttrey closed its six remaining stores in Washington to focus on its core markets of Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota. In response to increasing competition from retailers such as Costco Wholesale and Walmart entering into Buttrey's core markets, in November 1995, the chain launched the Buttrey Big Fresh concept to increase traffic in Buttrey stores. The first Big Fresh, a remodeled Buttrey in Great Falls, featured several expanded food departments and a Buttrey Food Court, which featured a coffee and espresso bar, and a selection of small restaurants. In the years following, Buttrey converted several other stores to the Big Fresh format. In January 1998, Albertsons announced its intentions to acquire Buttrey Food & Drug for US$134 million. Albertsons' acquisition of Buttrey was completed in October 1998 and 29 former Buttrey stores were rebranded as Albertsons, ending the Buttrey moniker. 15 Buttrey and Albertsons stores were sold to Fred Meyer and SuperValu to address anti-trust concerns. At the time of the sale, Buttrey was operating 44 stores in Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming under the Buttrey Food & Drug, Buttrey Big Fresh, and Buttrey Fresh Foods banners. Shortly after acquiring Buttrey, Albertsons purchased American Stores, Buttrey's owner from 1984 to 1990, for US$8 billion. Incidents In July 1985, an Anaconda, Montana woman opened a frozen broccoli